Packers Inflict Additional Pain on 49ers

The Green Bay Packers crushed the half-strength San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers crushed the half-strength San Francisco 49ers 34-17 on Thursday night in Santa Clara, Calif. So, maybe it’s more accurate to say the Packers beat the San Francisco 25ers, if you’d like to round up to avoid the verbose 24-and-a-half’ers.

Whatever the math and nickname, this supposed NFC Championship Game rematch should have been a mismatch and it was.

Aaron Rodgers was unstoppable. So was Davante Adams. Rodgers finished 25-of-31 passing for 305 yards and four touchdowns. Of that, Adams recorded 10 receptions for 173 yards and one touchdown. Marquez Valdes-Scantling more than made amends for a third-down drop with a pair of touchdowns that broke this game wide open.

“They’re a different team on paper, for sure,” Rodgers said. “They’ve had some tough injuries to some really key players, but no one’s feeling sorry for anybody in this league. That’s the way it goes. Nobody’s feeling sorry for us. We’re dealing with injuries. Obviously they had a number of young guys play; we had a number of young guys play. Obviously, tonight again, our left tackle’s out, Allen Lazard is out, Jamaal Williams, AJ Dillon. A number of impact players on defense didn’t play or got hurt during the game. That’s the NFL in 2020. Obviously they got hit by the injury bug a lot more than you usually see, but it’s still football. It still feels great to win. It feels good to be 6-2 at the halfway point and first in the division.”

Green Bay, which as Rodgers mentioned isn’t exactly the picture of health, improved to 6-2 despite not having All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari (chest) for a third consecutive game. Cornerback Kevin King (quad) missed a fourth consecutive game, and standout cornerback Jaire Alexander (concussion) was one of a few starters who were unable to finish. So, the mini-bye before hosting Jacksonville on Nov. 15 will be welcome.

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Green Bay has topped 30 points in all six of its victories this season. It hogged the ball for 36:30 against the Niners even while having to shuffle its offensive line after halftime. When fill-in right tackle Rick Wagner aggravated a knee injury, Billy Turner moved from left tackle to his customary spot at right tackle, Elgton Jenkins moved from left guard to left tackle and rookie Jon Runyan stepped in at left guard. It hardly mattered.

The Packers got rolling from the jump. For the eighth time in as many games this season, the Packers notched a first-drive score. Rodgers threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Adams to cap a sterling opening drive. Adams made a twisting, tumbling catch in the end zone vs. Emmanuel Moseley. Despite missing two-and-a-half games, it was his league-leading eighth touchdown.

With San Francisco trailing only 7-3 and with momentum on its side, the game turned early in the second quarter. On third-and-long, Preston Smith drove replacement left tackle Justin Skule backward, got in the face of replacement quarterback Nick Mullens and forced an awful pass that was intercepted by Raven Greene.

The rout was on. The Packers turned the turnover into a 1-yard touchdown pass to Marcedes Lewis. On their next possession, Valdes-Scantling got well behind replacement cornerback Marcell Harris for a 52-yard touchdown as the Packers took a 21-3 into the break. Valdes-Scantling struck again on the first drive after halftime to make it 28-3. On a sprintout to the right, Rodgers found Valdes-Scantling alone in the back of the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown.

“It’s special. It’s unbelievable,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “You could give him the game ball every game.”

San Francisco’s roster has been dismantled by injuries and, now, COVID-19. According to ManGamesLost.com, the Niners were the most-injured team in the NFL entering Week 9. The 49ers have a heck of a team on injured reserve, a list that includes quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, tight end George Kittle and running back Raheem Mostert on offense, and linemen Nick Bosa, Dee Ford, Ziggy Ansah and Solomon Thomas, cornerback Richard Sherman on defense. Making matters worse, receivers Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and Kendrick Bourne were out. So, the 49ers didn’t have a prayer.

But, the Packers took care of business for a big bounce-back victory after a disappointing loss at home to Minnesota last week.

Running back Aaron Jones, who was questionable, gave the Packers an immediate lift on the opening drive. He finished with 15 carries for 58 yards as the team went without backups Jamaal Williams and AJ Dillon, both of whom are on the COVID-19 reserve list following Dillon's positive test on Monday.

“Obviously, we had a jolt tonight having 33 back,” Rodgers said. “He’s a dynamic guy. He had a couple plays the first drive that were special. It was fun seeing him out there.”